Mozambique Beat Zambia by 3 Wickets — Navicha and Simango Turn 34 for 5 into a Win, a Day After 19 All Out

Twenty-four hours after being bowled out for 19 by Uganda, Mozambique chased 110 like a team that had spent the night deciding never to be embarrassed like that again. It was not elegant. They chose to field, watched Zambia race to 34 without loss in four overs and then took nine wickets for 44 runs, before a last-wicket stand of 31 between Javid Patel and Soyeb Pendi gave Zambia 109 for 9. In reply Mozambique were 34 for 5 inside seven overs, and the ghosts of Saturday were very much in the room.

Agostinho Navicha, in at 23 for 3, batted 47 balls for 41, and Lourenço Simango hit two sixes in 25 not out off 17 to take them home at 110 for 7 with six balls unused. Mozambique won by 3 wickets. Both teams finish the group on four points with two wins from five, Zambia third and Mozambique fourth, and both are eliminated. For Mozambique, though, the last word on this tournament is a chase held together under pressure rather than a scorecard that read 19 all out.

The decision to field looked poor for four overs. Ismail Kara hit five fours in 24 off 15 and Zambia were 34 for 0. Then Charles Mbebe had Shadreck Malama caught behind, Simango had Kara caught by Roposo, Jakir Patel was run out, and the innings never recovered its rhythm. Vieira Tembo took 3 for 22, and two of them came in consecutive balls at the end of the tenth over: Zakir Husain Patel caught by Ndzeute and Ayaz Dadabhai lbw first ball, 57 for 5 becoming 57 for 6. Camate Roposo's four overs cost just 11 and removed Vasmiakram Chand and Zahirbhai Patel. Only five extras were conceded, which for a side that had looked rattled a day earlier was a mark of composure.

The chase was built in small steps. Joao Hou's three fours in 14 off 11 were the only early fluency, and at 34 for 5 the required rate was still under a run a ball but the dressing room would have felt otherwise. Agostinho Navicha walked in at 23 for 3 in the fourth over and simply stayed. He put on 23 with Roposo across five overs and 25 with Simango across another five, and when he was caught by Dadabhai off Javid Patel at 82 for 7 in the 18th over, the target had been brought down to 28 from 17 balls. Simango and Gomes Gomes needed only 11 of them.

Zambia will feel this was a game they let slip twice. The first time was with the bat: 34 for 0 after four overs should not become 78 for 9 after 15.4, and two run outs, Jakir Patel and Robert Lungu, were the kind of wickets a team gives away rather than loses. The last-wicket stand changed the shape of the game. Javid Patel, 26 not out off 21 with a four and a six, and Soyeb Pendi, 17 not out off 15, added 31 in 4.2 overs. Without those runs Zambia would have been defending something under 80.

The second time was with the ball, and here they deserve credit before criticism. Pendi took 2 for 13, Kara bowled Hou and Jose Bulele in his 2 for 21, and Javid Patel's 2 for 23 included Navicha and Jose Joao. At 34 for 5 Zambia were favourites. What hurt them was the other end: Zahirbhai Patel's four overs went for 36 with three wides, and 13 extras in a chase of 110 is a lot to give away. Zambia had beaten Gambia by 8 wickets and bowled Lesotho out for 58 earlier in the week; the difference on Sunday was that Mozambique did not keep giving them wickets.

Camate Roposo was caught by Yambayamba off Zahirbhai Patel at 57 for 6 in the 13th over. Mozambique needed 53 from 47 balls with four wickets left, and the two men at the crease, Navicha and Simango, had between them one job: not to lose another wicket for a while. For five overs they did not. The stand was worth only 25, but it took the chase to 82 with 17 balls left, and when Navicha finally went, Simango had seen enough of the bowling to attack it. Twenty-eight came from the next 11 balls, two of them sixes, and the game was over with an over to spare.

Forty-one off 47 balls, two fours and a six, will not sit near the top of any list of great T20 innings. It sits near the top of the list of innings this Mozambique side needed. Navicha came in at 23 for 3, saw two more wickets go at 25 and 34, and then batted from the fourth over to the 18th while the asking rate stayed within reach. He was caught by Ayaz Dadabhai off Javid Patel at 82 for 7, and by then the hard part had been done. It was the innings of a man who understood that in a chase of 110 the bowlers only win if you let them.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

Both teams go home from Abuja on four points, with the Africa Regional Final place going to Nigeria and Uganda. Zambia's problem to solve is the middle order: a side that can reach 34 without loss should not need its last pair to get past 100. Mozambique's is consistency, but they have shown in one afternoon what Tembo and Roposo can do with the ball and what Navicha and Simango can do when a chase needs patience first and power second. If the 19 all out was the low point of their week, this was the right way to leave it.